Fayetteville Online -- An Army soldier with Fayetteville ties died in Iraq on Saturday, his parents said.

Staff Sgt. Darrell Clay, 34, was killed when a homemade bomb exploded, his father, David Clay, said. He had been in the country for a month, although his parents did not know which city he was in.

Before going to Iraq, Darrell Clay was stationed in Germany, his father said.

Darrell Clay grew up in Fayetteville, where his parents live, and joined the Army Reserve during his junior year at Seventy-First High School. He graduated in 1990 and attended Shaw University in Raleigh for one year, David Clay said. After that, he decided to be in the Army full time.

David Clay said his son had been in Germany for the past five years.

He left behind a wife, two sons and a daughter.

David Clay said he received news of Darrell’s death when his daughter-in-law called from Germany at 3:55 a.m. Sunday.

“She told me he had been killed and about a quarter to eight, a chaplain and captain came to the house,” David Clay said.

On Sunday evening, David Clay was calm and eager to talk about his child.

He said Darrell came from a military family and they all knew the dangers of deployments. He said his son was most afraid of Iraq, although he’d been deployed there twice before.

“I did 24 years in the Army, I got a son who’s got 25 years in and a daughter with about eight or nine years in,” David Clay said. “I don’t worry about things. If your time comes, you’re going.”